Letter to the Ohio House of Representatives, Vern Riffe Center (March 3, 2025)

Summary

Letter to the Ohio House of Representatives from Dan B. Brown, CPG, CP, President and Founder of Partners Environmental Consulting, Inc., requesting support for funding and programmatic changes to the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program (BRP). It says the General Assembly created the BRP in 2021 with an initial appropriation of $350 million and renewed it with a second appropriation of $350 million. It describes the Deeds Point project in Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, a 17-acre property redeveloped into an elementary school, and says a No Further Action (NFA) letter was submitted to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It asks for a continued appropriation of at least $100-$150 million per year.

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Full text

                           E nv i r o n m e n t a l , S a fe t y, & E n g i n e e r i n g
                           O h i o | Ne w Yo rk | Ne w J e r s e y | C o l o r a d o



March 3, 2025

Ohio House of Representatives
Vern Riffe Center
77 S. High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215

To the Honorable Members of the House,
My name is Dan B. Brown, CPG, CP, and I am the President and Founder of Partners Environmental
Consulting, Inc. For the past 26 years, Partners has been helping businesses in Ohio and nationally with
their environmental and safety needs. I am writing to you today to respectfully request your support for the
inclusion of funding and important programmatic changes to the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program
(BRP).
I helped author the Ohio Voluntary Action Program (VAP) rules in the 1990s and am well-acquainted with
the BRP as it currently stands. As someone who is directly involved in this work, I strongly believe it is
imperative for Ohio to continue the BRP to help ensure that Ohio can maintain its competitive advantage
as a great place to do business. Having been an elected official, I understand demands are competing
heavily with constraints when it comes to serving your constituency, but I am urging you to consider this
important matter.
The Ohio General Assembly created the BRP in 2021 with an initial appropriation of $350 million. Two (2)
years later, lawmakers renewed the program with a second appropriation of $350 million. According to the
Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC), to date, the program has been responsible for the clean-up or
assessment of more than 600 brownfield sites in 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Importantly, 285 of these projects
are underway in counties with a population of fewer than 70,000 people, and 355 are in counties with a
population of less than 150,000.
These results not only show that Brownfields are indeed a statewide problem but also show that there are
opportunities for new economic development and revitalization in every region of Ohio.
An example of one such project is “Deeds Point,” which we worked on in Dayton, Montgomery County,
Ohio. The redevelopment of this 17-acre property into an elementary school with track and field, green
space, parking, and a public park had stalled after it was determined that soil impacts exceeded applicable
standards. Funding from the BRP allowed Partners and the developer to not just bring the project to fruition,
but to keep it on-time and on-budget, effectively and safely. The anticipated elementary school has since
opened and we were able to submit a No Further Action (NFA) letter to the Ohio Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) for site closure. Without the critical funding from the BRP, this would never have happened.
This is just one example of the many revitalizing projects that are currently underway across the state of
Ohio.
As impressive as this work has been, the progress made over the past four (4) years has just barely
scratched the surface of what is needed to address Brownfield remediation in Ohio. Of the grants that have
been awarded since 2021, 279 have been assessment grants. Assessments just determine the scope of
contamination that may exist on a site. The majority of these locations will need clean-up funds in order to
ensure they are made available for future redevelopment opportunities.
This is why it is critical to continue funding for the BRP for at least the next two (2) years.
As proud as we are with the work that we have been able to accomplish with the BRP, there have been
issues with the current operation of the program. The first come, first serve nature of the BRP leaves Ohio’s
smaller counties at a disadvantage when seeking funding for remediation projects in their communities.
This is why a majority of the sites that will need clean-up funds in the future (170) are in counties with a
population under 150,000.

                          31100 Solon Road, Suite G, Solon, Ohio 44139
                                      www.partnersenv.c om
                                     phone: (800) 763- 1363
BRP Funding
February 28, 2025                                                                                   Page 2


State Representatives Thomas Hall and Bride Sweeney have proposed important programmatic changes
to the BRP which will shift the program from a first come, first serve model to a merit-based system, which
scores applications reviewed by a panel of experts working with the Ohio Department of Development
(ODOD). This model mirrors Ohio’s first Brownfield program, the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF).
CORF was responsible for producing $1.16 billion in one-time contributions and contributing $1.4 billion
annually to the state’s Gross Domestic Product.
Please support a continued appropriation for the BRP of at least $100-$150 million per year, along with the
programmatic changes being proposed by Representatives Hall and Sweeney. This investment will unlock
untold potential on over 9,000 former commercial and industrial Brownfield sites across Ohio, while
preserving agricultural land and green space from unnecessary development.
Regards,




_________________________
Dan B. Brown, CP, CPG
President


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